People: Junko Tabei

9/22/1939 - 10/20/2016

“Do not give up, keep on your quest.” Junko Tabei

When I first heard of this extraordinary woman I knew I wanted to share her remarkable story.

On May 16th, 1975 Junko Tabei was the first woman and the 36th person to summit Mt. Everest. She was a petite Japanese woman, the fifth of seven children from a family of modest means raised in Miharu, Fukushima. Junko was introduced to climbing at the age of 10 while on a class trip to Mount Nasu and this was the moment when she fell hopelessly, utterly in love with climbing. The seed was firmly planted. However it wasn’t until many years later that she began the active process to become a devoted mountaineer.

In 1962 Junko graduated from Showa Womens’ University with a degree in English and initally planned to become a teacher. However, instead she returned to her love of climbing and began her gradual ascent to master climber and mountaineer. She climbed all the major mountains in Japan and in 1969 established an all women’s mountaineering club, the Joshi-Tohan Club. On the Club’s first expedition in 1970 she and one other woman were the first females to have summited Annapurna III from a new south side ascent. She then went on to her successful ascent of Mt. Everest in May of 1975 and following that she climbed the Seven Summits, the highest mountain peaks on every continent. A deep breath, because if that isn’t enough she then went on to work toward realizing her personal goal to summit the highest mountains in every country on earth. At the time of her death in 2016 she had completed 70 summits in all. Junko died of stomach cancer at the age of 77 in Kawagoe, Japan. In July of that very same year she led a climbing expedition of Japanese youth to the summit of Mount Fuji. Not only was she a testament to perseverance and challenging societal norms, she was an advocate for environmental stewardship and gender equality.

To say she is an inspiration is just not nearly enough, she is so much more than that. Simply put, a brillant light, a beacon for all of us as we march toward our personal mountains to climb. Her remarkable story helps to remind me that every single dream begins with a deep felt passion that pulls toward something and it begins with a first step.

Junko Tabei - her enduring legacy lives on in mountaineering and life